Tennessee Titans start their OTAs today, what does that mean?
By Will Lomas
The two biggest questions that come up each offseason for the Tennessee Titans are, "When do OTAs start?" and "What makes OTAs different from what they have been doing?"
To answer the first question, the Tennessee Titans are scheduled to have their first OTA practice on May 20th (today), and they will also have practices on the 21st, 23rd, 28th, 29th, 31st, and then again for four days from June 10-13.
These are going to be the first OTAs for Tennessee Titans HC Brian Callahan, DC Dennard Wilson, and OC Nick Holz in their current positions, so it is going to be interesting to see what they do and what they emphasize the most in these practices.
As for what makes OTAs different from what the Titans have been doing so far, OTAs are the first chance for NFL teams to have competitive parts of practice.
Instead of just focusing on positional drills and technique work, teams are going to have a chance to see 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills.
Up until this point, the Tennessee Titans coaching staff hasn't seen Will Levis throw against Chidobe Awuzie or what it looks like when Calvin Ridley and L'Jarius Sneed line up against each other on an island.
This is going to be a great chance for Brian Callahan and the offensive coaching staff to see Will Levis work through passing concepts against a live defense running multiple coverages. Callahan has emphasized how good offenses build their playbook based on what a quarterback does well, so finding out what Levis thrives with is going to be a huge part of this offseason.
One big asterisk to put on OTAs is that there isn't any contact allowed. So we won't get a chance to see Harold Landry, Jeffery Simmons, and T'Vondre Sweat line up and rattle pads against J.C. Latham, Peter Skoronski, and Lloyd Cushenberry just yet.
Still, it is going to be exciting to watch clips that the team posts over the next four weeks. Hopefully, these practices aren't as secretive under Brian Callahan as they were under Mike Vrabel who used to flip out if reporters even acknowledged that a player did something during these practices.